The journey of a lifetime continues for Edith Lemay, Sebastien Pelletier and their four children Mia, Leo, Colin and Laurent, who have been travelling the world to make as many "visual memories" before three of the kids lose their vision.
Since last March, their travels have taken them through Namibia, Zambia, Tanzania, Turkey, Mongolia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Cambodia, while documenting their journey to over 100,000 followers on Instagram.
"(The children) love it. (They’ve) just been saying that they want to keep travelling forever," Lemay told CTV's Your Morning on Thursday.
Three of the four children -- Mia, Colin and Laurent -- have been diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa, a rare genetic condition that causes vision loss over time. The parents say deterioration of Mia, Colin and Laurent's vision will probably speed up in their teen years, with about 10 per cent of their eyesight remaining by mid-life. According to the Canadian National Institute for the Blind, there is no cure for retinitis pigmentosa, which typically involves deteriorating night vision as well as loss of peripheral vision, most commonly known as "tunnel vision."
After their diagnoses, their parents set out to show their children as much of the world as possible while they can still see.
"My daughter really loved the horseback riding in Mongolia," Lemay said. "That's one of her best (memories). Leo really loved the animals in Africa … Colin is all about the train so all the train rides, especially the one in Tanzania, is really great. And for Laurent and most of the family -- one of the best memories was the hot air balloon ride."
For Christmas, the family spent it on a remote island in Cambodia, and even invited a few of their friends from Quebec to come over.
"We made a Christmas tree with a palm tree branch and put some lights in it, so it was quite nice," said Lemay.
The family will be crossing the border over to Laos next, where they plan on spending a month before visiting one or two more countries. They hope to be back home in Quebec before the school year is over so their eldest daughter Mia can say goodbye to her friends before she starts high school in Grade 7.
"The last destination, we don't know. We have one or two destination to fit in before we get back home. And we don't know, we're looking at Oman, Egypt. We don't know yet.
Watch the full interview with Edith Lemay at the top of this article.
With files from CTV News Montreal
